Stimulation techniques may be used to increase the amount of hydrocarbons obtained from a subterranean formation. For example, some unconventional subterranean formations may be fractured to improve well productivity by placing or enhancing fractures which run from a wellbore into a surrounding subterranean formation. Other methods of increasing productivity include drilling additional wells in the subterranean formation. In some instances, a new well may be drilled between other existing wells and may reduce the well spacing of the field. In other cases, field development may be planned such that multiple wells may be placed in close proximity to accelerate recovery.
When wells are placed sufficiently close together, stimulation of one well may impact production of other wells if fluid communication between the wells is present. This may be referred to generally as “well bashing,” and this loss of production occurs because the stimulated well is in fluid communication with one or more of the producing wells and the treatment fluids used in the stimulated well may enter the other wells through connecting flow paths in the fracture networks within the subterranean formation. When two wells are in fluid communication, stimulation treatment fluids may be lost through flow into the non-stimulated well. If this occurs, the stimulation operation may require more stimulation treatment fluids than would be necessary if there was no fluid communication with other wells. This may result in increases in operation time and expenditure. Further, if the non-stimulated well is producing, well production may be reduced or lost due to the inflow of the stimulation treatment fluids into the producing well. In situations in which fluid communication is established between multiple producing wells the fluid used to displace the hydrocarbons may take the path of least flow resistance and may bypass reserves in low permeability areas and instead flow into another producing well leading to a loss in production in both producing wells.
Some methods used to reduce or prevent fluid communication between wells may involve the use of polymer solutions. The polymer solutions may be introduced into the flow paths between wells, and then the polymers may be cross-linked to reduce or prevent flow between the wells by blocking the flow paths between the wells. However, the polymers in the solution may hydrolyze over time and lose viscosity. As such, the polymers may only provide a temporary solution. Because of this degradation, the polymer solutions may need to be used every time a well stimulation is performed. They may also need to be used as a remedial measure in producing wells if fluid communication between producing wells occurs because the previously introduced polymers have degraded. Further, the polymers may not be thermally stable in high temperature environments, which are generally environments with temperatures greater than 200° F. The thermal degradation of the polymers may preclude use in high temperature environments, and the polymers may not be sufficient for reducing or preventing fluid communication in wells in high temperature subterranean formations or when operations requiring elevated temperatures need to be performed. When the polymers degrade, they may lose viscosity and become easier to displace when contacted by subsequent fluids such as stimulation treatment fluids or fluids used to displace hydrocarbons. As such, the polymer solutions may not provide a long-term solution to prevent well bashing and may not be stable in high temperature subterranean formations.
The illustrated figures are only exemplary and are not intended to assert or imply any limitation with regard to the environment, architecture, design, or process in which different examples may be implemented.